rcmodel said:
Have you checked your case length before seating the bullets? If they are over the .898" standard,. . .
I checked them and they are roughly 0.010 under max length.
jfh said:
What people have said so far generally makes sense--here's another way to think about this issue.
1. AA's reccommended LOA is very unusual--and probably an error. "Typical" 200-gr. LSWCs in .45ACP load up about like Walkalong says--from about 1.23+ to 1.275
It started me thinking that maybe their guide is listing
minimum overall lengths, not maximum or nominal. If I read it as do not go
under 1.190" and do not go
over the 1.275" maximum standard length, then that seems to make more sense. Then I can just find a value in the middle that seems to seat well, feed well, and shoot well. I sent an email to the Accurate tech support group asking them to confirm if their guide means minimum length.
BTW, you are right on the money about usage. I intend to use this for target practice and IDPA, so I am looking at reduced, accurate, loads.
jfh said:
3. You need to test your cartridge's physical assembly to sort out all the parameters.
Build about six "dummies"--it appears you are doing that--and check the dimensions and note them.
Try filling your magazine and see if the rightmost (1.225) cartridge feeds reliably when you close the slide. Try closing the slide with a "slingshot" release and with a slide stop drop. See if they drop cleanly into your pistols chamber, or check them in your MAX cart gauge. These tests should sort out the physical dimensions for you.
Now load up about twenty rounds at a lower level / start load and try shooting them.
For your first shot, simply load one cartridge, drop the slide and fire, and confirm all went well. The main thing here is the pistol "function"--did the slide close cleanly when loading, then did the case eject "nicely" and the slide lock back? If so, then
Load one magazine (at least five rounds) and shoot those, again noting function. If they all shoot reliably, you're good to go for load development to find the "sweet spot" recipe.
Well, maybe I need to be more cautious. I just took 75 rounds to the range yesterday and shot 'em all.
They all fired. That is a good thing!
Accuracy seemed in the ballpark -- no attempt at fine tuning that yet.
I had failure to feed issues with roughly 15-20 of the 75 rounds. Usually, the difficulty was either the first round in the magazine, either "slingshotted" or using the slide release, or it was the 2nd to last round in the magazine.
So I'll make up some dummy rounds in varying lengths and explore what length feeds the best.
In general with 1911's and SWC, are longer cartridges going to feed better than shorter ones? The short cartridges seemed like they were trying feed one heck of an acute angle when they were jammed.